II Cumbre Continental de Pueblos y Nacionalidades Indígenas de Abya Yala (Américas)

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Indigenous peoples of the continent move forward in the creation of plurinational states

By Jairo Rolong, Ecuarunari, Minga Informativa

Quito, July 23, 2004.

A process of reflection and analysis of themes having vital importance to the construction of plurinational states, is being realized in the development of the Second Continental Summit of Indigenous Pueblos and Nationalities taking place in Quito, Ecuador prior to the Social Forum of the Americas.

In the third day of the Summit, in working groups and panels the participants began to analyze ten themes, from which will be taken resolutions to mark the collective triggering of the indigenous movement of the continent in years to come. The plenary regarding these themes will be developed tomorrow (Saturday), on this day will also be celebrated an intercultural night of fraternity amongst the pueblos.

At the end of the afternoon Friday was also the official inauguration of a photographic exhibition “movimientos.org,” showing 40 gigantophotos, which because of their content have been titled “The struggles of our pueblos are part of our historical memory,” as a compilation of images of actions by social sectors within the last 20 years in Ecuador. Fifteen independent photographers and others from communications media participated in the show by contributing their previously published photos to the indigenous movement.

Prior, in the second day of the Summit, were five central talks in which the following themes were tackled: Territories, Autonomy, and Free Determination, on the part of Sabastião Manchineri, of COICA; Diversity and Plurinationality, charged to Luis Macas, Director of the Intercultural University Amawtay Wasi, of Ecuador; Rights of Pueblos, Nationalities and Social Movements within the World Social Forum by Nicia Maldonado, of CONIVE; Militarization, by Marlon Santi, of Sarayaku (Ecuador); and Women in the Construction of the Plurinational State, by Vicenta Chuma, of PIA.

In the first talk Manchineri said, "for COICA this meeting represents the beginning of the unification of the pueblos and nationalities, who have the undeniably human vision of humanity." He added that "the countries of the continent are invaded not only by the big transnationals, but also by military forces; and not yet in Latin America has appeared a government which defends their rights, their sovereignty, their principles, and their ideals." In particular, on the theme of Territories, Autonomy, and Free Determination, the coordinator of COICA indicated that "One cannot think of sustainable development of lands, mountains, forests, lakes, the underground, or the sky, where one sees our existence," and insisted upon the necessity of unity to guarantee access to the earth.

The second talk was on the theme of "Diversity and Plurinationality," in which spoke Luis Macas, of Ecuador. In his dissertation Macas said, “in this continent interculturality has been established as a theme of debate, in terms of the recognition of diversity in society, which for a long time the nation-states have not done.”

“In this sense,” added Macas, “the latin american indigenous movement has given a remission of power, as interculturality already has diversity and the plurality of cultures and pueblos at its base; therefore it is important that these pueblos and original nations contribute to the change of the system and the dominant structures.” Likewise, he asserted that “interculturality is not a discourse, but rather a proposal which has touched the very essence of the current economic system and questioned the political system.”

Another talk developed in the Summit was “Indigenous pueblos and organisms of multilateral cooperation,” on the part of Nicia Maldonado, of CONIVE, Venezuela. In her exposition she noted that "the demands of financiers make us insignificant, imposing the criteria of capitalist companies upon our organizations."

The delegate from Venezuela asked, "What type of intervention model has arrived applying these multilateral organisms such as the World Bank & IADB in our organizations, by which manner have these organisms intervened in the process of self-determination of Pueblos and Communities?” These queries caused the plenary to reflect upon the steps taken in relation to the multilateral organisms, to whom it is -- as said by the delegate from CONIVE -- “convenient that us, live descendents of our ancestors, offer self-criticism: it may be true that we are walking the path, or that we may have confused the path.”

Finally, Nicia Maldonado emphasized that, “it is necessary to make decisions because our pueblos are playing with the most powerful. Let us make a genuine revolution, with knowledge of the reason for the path of our destiny, in the long term. Let us break the schemes imposed against our self-determination, at whatever cost necessary.”

The fourth talk concerned the theme “Militarization,” in which Marlon Santi of Sarayaku, Ecuador said that in his territory, located within the Amazon and carrying three years of struggle, being a militarized pueblo has weighed heavily, and they have become exhausted through the defense of their natural resources.

Santi asserted that militarization is a great threat to indigenous pueblos and that the military has been transformed into the guardian of the transnationals. Equally, he asserted that “militarization in the pretext of combat in the Plan Colombia has been implemented in zones which have nothing to do with the colombian conflict.”

Lastly, the fifth talk was about “Women in the Construction of Plurinational States,” and was given by Vicenta Chuma, of the Indigenous Parliament of America (PIA), who brought up that “in the vision of the indians, man and woman are two parts of the same being, the sun is father and the earth is mother, both necessary and complementary.” In her analysis she used the phrase, “Never again without the indians,” adding “never again without women!” In the end, she stressed that “the pueblos will be complete when man and woman work for a plurinational state in which there are no poor people, or rich people.”


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